Press Releases

Fairfield University grads have highest starting salaries in Connecticut

Fairfield University was recently ranked as the top college and university in Connecticut when it came to the average starting salary of graduates, according to a New York-based financial technology company SmartAsset.

Fairfield topped the charts in Connecticut with an average starting salary of $50,100, and a rating of 43.04 on the starting salary index (a figure that considers college tuition, living costs, scholarships and grants, and other measurements), outpacing Yale University, where the average graduate salary is $50,000, with a starting salary index of 42.83. Following Yale came the University of Connecticut, Quinnipiac University, Trinity College, Sacred Heart, Connecticut College, Western Connecticut State University, University of Hartford, and Wesleyan University.

The rankings are part of SmartAsset's overarching study on the colleges providing students with the best overall value.

"We are gratified - but not surprised - to see that our graduates are so sought after in the workforce," said Fairfield's President, Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx S.J.. "Our students are well-prepared with a strong liberal arts foundation, but also have access to a network of internship possibilities and mentoring relationships that lead to rewarding and financially satisfying careers. Fairfield provides an excellent return on investment as an institution of higher education, and we are pleased to see that all of our hard work is paying off for our students and their families."

SmartAsset also found that studies in healthcare are the most likely to be financially rewarded. "Pre-med and pre-pharmacy majors earn the most in 26 states. Doctors, pharmacists, anesthesiologists and other healthcare experts are in high demand these days, so these majors can pay - as long you are willing to pursue an extra degree," the web sites states.

Fairfield has recently announced that it will be expanding its nursing and health studies programs, with a major renovation of its existing science and nursing facilities, and the renaming of its nursing school as the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies. Groundbreaking on that facility is scheduled for the spring.

To find the highest paying college major in every state, SmartAsset analyzed microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey, it claims. "We looked at over 3 million files on income earners throughout the country, across the over 170 different undergraduate majors tracked by the Census Bureau. For each of these majors, we calculated the average income in every state. All income earners were included, not just recent graduates or graduates with only a bachelor's degree. Thus, for some majors in our map (such as pre-med), it is safe to assume that the top earners have additional degrees."